Education under siege: The experience of universities in Gaza

Dr Mona Jebril, Cambridge University

Chair: Nita Sanghera, Vice President, UCU

In this talk, Dr Mona Jebril will discuss her doctoral research on the impact of the siege and conflict on higher education in Gaza. Her presentation will explore the recent history experienced by Gaza universities and will also examine how this is evolving in the shifting socio-political context of the Arab world. The lecture is based on Dr Jebril’s original research on the development of Palestinian higher education within the broader regional context of the Arab Spring from a Palestinian perspective.

Mona Jebril lived, studied and taught in the occupied Gaza Strip for more than 22 years. She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, working on a Global Challenge Research Fund project, which aims to build sustainable capacity, partnerships and research on health in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Palestine. In 2017, Mona completed her PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Previously, Mona studied completed an MSc in Higher Education at the University of Oxford where she won the Said Foundation Second Prize for academic and personal achievement. Dr Jebril has a significant experience as a teacher and trainer at state schools and as a lecturer at two of Gaza’s universities. She is also a co-founder of two centers and a scholarship programme in Gaza. Mona has produced four films from her PhD thesis, and has written a number of articles for academic journals, blogs and newspapers.

Nita Sanghera is Vice President of the University & College Union (UCU) and Access to Higher Education lecturer at Bournville College. She is the first black woman to be elected to the post of UCU Vice President.

This event is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Estate of the Late Sarah Hayward and Interpal.

]]>Fobzu works with UNRWA to launch new scholarships for Palestinian refugeeshttps://fobzu.org/blog/2019/02/13/fobzu-unrwa-scholarships-for-palestinian-refugees/
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 14:50:32 +0000https://fobzu.org/?p=32097In our 40th anniversary year, Fobzu has established ten new scholarships for Palestinian students studying at universities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Thanks to the generous help of our supporters, Fobzu has been working with UNRWA, the UN agency dedicated to supporting Palestinian refugees, to provide scholarships to students needing financial support […]

]]>In our 40th anniversary year, Fobzu has established ten new scholarships for Palestinian students studying at universities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Thanks to the generous help of our supporters, Fobzu has been working with UNRWA, the UN agency dedicated to supporting Palestinian refugees, to provide scholarships to students needing financial support to pursue their education. With your help we are making this gesture of practical support to demonstrate our commitment to standing up for Palestinian refugees and their rights during a time when they are under renewed threat.

Palestinian refugee rights threatened

In 2018, the rights of the Palestinian refugees came under increased attack from the US and its allies. The Trump administration has -accused UNRWA and its UN mandate as having ‘perpetuated and exacerbated the refugee crisis’. After initially announcing cuts to its contribution, the US declared in August the end of all of its funding to UNRWA, forcing the UN refugee agency into an ‘existential crisis’. The decision followed US unilateral initiatives to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and close down the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) office in Washington. These measures were designed to lay the foundations of Trump’s Middle East peace plan – the ‘deal of the century’ – which is widely anticipated as an attempt to resolve the key issues of negotiation in Israel’s favour.

UNRWA responded to the US announcement by launching a global fundraising campaign to fill the hole left by the US cuts. The response succeeded in temporarily ensuring UNRWA’s short term survival, but services have been cut, the agency’s future funding remains in doubt, and the US and Israel appear committed to dissolving the agency in its current form.

UNRWA and the Palestinian refugees

UNRWA was established in 1949 by the United Nations to provide relief and development assistance to the Palestinians that fled or were expelled from historic Palestine during the period up to 1948 known by Palestinians as the ‘Nakba’. UNRWA has been tasked with this responsibility by the General Assembly until a just and lasting resolution is found to the plight of the Palestinian refugees. However, Palestinian refugee rights, including their right to return, remain unrealised and the population of refugees requiring support has grown from 750,000 in 1948 to 5 million today.

Today, a third of the Palestinian refugees live in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, while the majority of the remaining two thirds reside in neighbouring host Arab countries with varying legal status. UNRWA supports 526,000 students in 711 schools across Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, in addition to providing access to healthcare, social and welfare services.

Support Palestinian refugee students

Join us in standing with Palestinian refugee students. Please consider donating to our 40th anniversary appeal so that we can support them and other Palestinian students in financial need and continue building support for their rights. Click here to donate.

]]>A history of building solidarity with Palestine: Fobzu and the education trade unionshttps://fobzu.org/blog/2019/02/11/solidarity-with-palestine-fobzu-and-the-education-trade-unions/
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 15:57:20 +0000https://fobzu.org/?p=32083Former Fobzu trustee and UCU International Officer, Paul Bennett discusses his work with Fobzu since the First Intifada building solidarity with the education sector in Palestine I became involved in Fobzu in 1989, when Fobzu and the World University Service UK (WUS), organised an ambitious delegation of British education trade unionists to occupied Palestine. I went […]

]]>Former Fobzu trustee and UCU International Officer, Paul Bennett discusses his work with Fobzu since the First Intifada building solidarity with the education sector in Palestine

I became involved in Fobzu in 1989, when Fobzu and the World University Service UK (WUS), organised an ambitious delegation of British education trade unionists to occupied Palestine. I went as representative of NATFHE, a precursor of the University and College Union. On arrival, we were plunged into the realities of a harsh military occupation at the height of the popular uprising that was the First Intifada. Universities closed down, with Israeli soldiers at the gate, hospitals overflowing with youths and children shot with plastic bullets or live ammunition visible on their x-rays, Israeli troops actively harassing Palestinians of all ages. We saw this at first hand staying at the Austrian Hospice in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, with a neighbouring house taken over by Ariel Sharon, the IDF general turned politician, heavily guarded by overbearing soldiers half blocking the bustling, narrow Via Dolorosa. The oppression and destruction of Palestinian lives was apparent at every level of society, with homes demolished and ancient olive groves ripped up in ‘reprisals’ often for teenage stone throwing. It was also demonstrated at every level of Palestinian education down to nurseries trashed and tear gassed.

The delegation visited most of the higher education institutions in the West Bank and Gaza, and a cross section of schools and vocational education centres. We were told about the extreme efforts made to keep classes running out of sight of the occupation forces. We saw the work of UNRWA everywhere, underpinning the stirling efforts of robust but beleaguered civil society institutions and recording the duty of the world community to the Palestinian people. A wide range of internationally supported projects in education, health and community development provided practical and moral support. But it was the spirit of hope and optimism of the Palestinians which impressed us the most, symbolised for me by the old lady in Gaza standing among the wreckage of her house, who said like a mantra, ‘The Palestinians are not weaker than the Vietnamese, Israel is not stronger than the United States’.

Another British trade union delegation under the auspices of WUS, went to the West Bank and Gaza in 1993, on a similar mission. In the four years that had passed, things had deteriorated across the board, and a grim determination had replaced the former optimism. It stung with a grain of truth when a local trade unionist said, ’we keep receiving well-meaning delegations from abroad but things here just get worse.’ Since that date of course, there have been huge changes, but the oppression is clearly far worse. The British delegates did mostly go back to their unions and feed into a growing debate that led to more material assistance, greater awareness among our membership of the Palestinian cause, work with Fobzu and other NGOs, and engagement with movements like the wide-ranging campaigns for disengagement with Israeli institutions party to the Occupation. I became a trustee of Fobzu during the 90’s and continued to contribute to a range of work within my own union to keep the Palestinian cause in focus.

I served on the Fobzu’s Board of Trustees for about 10 years during which time I was dedicated to using my experience in the trade union movement to further work with student unions and trade union branches in the post-school sector. Today, the task of raising awareness in the UK about the struggle of Palestinian students and educators and fostering hope through projects like the scholarship programme is more important than ever. The Palestinians are confronting a major assault on their rights from extreme right-wing governments in the US and Israel. International solidarity in every sector is vital if they are to withstand these forces. 40 years on from its founding, Fobzu continues to play an important role in harnessing the interest and solidarity of UK higher education community with their colleagues in Palestine and needs our support.

Dr Samah Jabr

George Washington University, Chair of the Mental Health Unit, Palestine Ministry of Health

In her lecture, prominent psychiatrist and scholar, Dr Samah Jabr explores themes of alienation and freedom in the context of the Palestinian struggle for national liberation. Dr Jabr examines the individual and collective psychological impact of the occupation of Palestine on Palestinians and how education can play an important role in overcoming this and contributing to realising freedom for the Palestinian people.

Dr Samah Jabr is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and writer. She is Assistant Clinical Professor, George Washington University, Washington DC and Chair of the Mental Health Unit at the Ministry of Health. Dr Jabr was formerly Head of the Ramallah Community Mental Health Centre. As a clinician, she also holds a private practice, works as a medical trainer and advises for local and international NGOs. She has been writing since the late 1990s, and has testified to the Palestinian daily experience in numerous articles and lectures. Alongside the documentary, her eponymous book Derrière les fronts : chroniques d’une psychiatre psychothérapeute palestinienne sous occupation [Beyond the Frontlines: Columns from a Palestinian Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist under Occupation] was published by PMN Editions in 2018.

This lecture is made possible thanks to the generous support of Interpal and the Estate of the Late Sarah Hayward.

]]>UN Committee Chair calls for solidarity with the Palestinian Peoplehttps://fobzu.org/blog/2018/12/19/un-committee-chair-calls-for-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people/
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 14:06:29 +0000https://fobzu.org/?p=31954In a talk co-hosted by Fobzu and the Centre for Palestine Studies (SOAS), SOAS Palestine Society and others, H.E. Ambassador Cheikh Niang told an audience of SOAS students and staff on Thursday that citizens around the world have a vital role to play in realising the rights of the Palestinian people. Citing the international campaign […]

]]>In a talk co-hosted by Fobzu and the Centre for Palestine Studies (SOAS), SOAS Palestine Society and others, H.E. Ambassador Cheikh Niang told an audience of SOAS students and staff on Thursday that citizens around the world have a vital role to play in realising the rights of the Palestinian people. Citing the international campaign that brought an end to apartheid in South Africa, Niang, the Permanent Representative of Senegal to the UN and the Chair of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, called on students and academics to continue building solidarity with the Palestinian people so that justice can be achieved.

Ambassador Niang’s talk took place during the week of the 70th anniversary of UN resolution 194, which enshrined in international law the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes from which they were expelled in 1948. The anniversary was marked by the launch of a statement by an international coalition of Palestinian civic associations calling for the mobilisation of international solidarity to defeat Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’. The US initiative, which threatens core Palestinian rights and undermines key tenets of international law, has been heavily trailed over thepast year and presaged by US unilateral moves including the defunding of UNRWA, relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and the closure of the PLO office inWashington.

The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is the only body at the UN devoted exclusively to the question of Palestine. It was established by General Assembly resolution 3376 on 10 November 1975 just a year after the Palestine Liberation Organisation achieved the historic feat of gaining observer status at the UN. The General Assembly charged the Committee with the task of devising a to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their rights, namely, those of self-determination, national independence, and the right to return to their homes and property. Since its founding, the Committee has worked to keep the rights of the Palestinians on the agenda at the UN.

Ambassador Cheikh Niang’s talk entitled ‘The peoples of the world voted for the people of Palestine: The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People’ was chaired by Dr Nimer Sultany, Senior Lecturer in Law at SOAS. The event was co-hosted by Fobzu, theCentre for Palestine Studies (SOAS), the Centre for the Study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law (SOAS), the Centre for Human Rights Law (SOAS), and SOAS Palestine Society.

On 21st November Professor Rita Giacaman of Birzeit University delivered a lecture on ‘The Psychosocial Health of Palestinian Youth’ at the Institute of Education. Professor Giacaman is universally regarded as the leading scholar of Palestinian psychosocial health. Her work in the field spans five decades and includes a range of civic public health initiatives and innovative research projects. At the end of the 1970s she founded the precursor department of what eventually became the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University. Under Professor Gicaman’s direction, the Institute has become a leader in generating research addressing the health needs of a population living under military occupation.
In her lecture Professor Giacaman began by addressing the current state of Palestinian well-being of young Palestinians living under prolonged military occupation. Referring to a recent three-year regional study into youth empowerment, she described the alienation felt among broad sections of Palestinian youth towards their political representatives as a result of their perceived ineffectiveness at resisting Israel’s ongoing occupation. Nevertheless, Professor Giacaman pointed to the Great March of Return and the waves of demonstrations at checkpoints across the oPt as evidence for remarkably high levels of civic engagement of Palestinian youth and and their determination to challenge the injustice they face.
Professor Giacaman’s research on Palestinian public health has contributed to international scholarly debates over approaches to public health. In the second part of her lecture she discussed the arrival of the ‘trauma industry’ with international NGOs in the 1990s and their application of a biomedical framework for understanding social suffering. The net result has been to pathologise the predicament Palestinians face, obscuring its historic origins and denying its political causes. The real cause of Palestinian suffering, Professor Giacaman summarised, is ‘injustice’.
This fourth event in the Education, Occupation & Liberation programme was held at the Institute of Education on 21st November and co-hosted by the University and College Union (UCU). A video of the lecture can be found here.

The Psychosocial Health of Palestinian Youth: Occupation & Resistance

Professor Rita Giacaman, Birzeit University

Chair: Professor Ann Phoenix, UCL

In her lecture, leading scholar and practitioner in the field of Palestinian public health, Professor Rita Giacaman explores the findings of recent research undertaken by the Institute of Community and Public Health into the psychosocial health of Palestinian youth living under occupation. Part of a broader investigation into youth in the MENA region, the project offers a regional comparative insight into the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion for young Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Reflecting on the research outcomes, Professor Giacaman engages with questions of psychosocial research methodology in the context of military occupation and how research can support positive responses to structural repression.

—

Professor Rita Giacaman is Director of the Institute of Community and Public Health (ICPH) at Birzeit University in occupied Palestine, which she founded. During her four decades of scholarship, she has become one of the leading authorities on Palestinian psychosocial wellbeing and public health. Her influential engagement as a researcher and practitioner in the Palestinian social action movement has led to the development of the Palestinian primary health care model. Since 2000, Professor Giacaman has focussed on understanding the impact of chronic war-like conditions and excessive exposure to violence on the health and well-being of Palestinians, especially their psychosocial health under occupation; and ways in which interventions can generate active resilience and resistance, especially among youth. She has published her research widely in international journals and scholarly publications.

Professor Ann Phoenix is Professor of Psychosocial Studies at UCL. She is a Fellow of both the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences. Her research interests are psychosocial, covering themes of motherhood, social identities, young people, racialisation and gender. Professor Phoenix’s recent research projects have focussed on boys and masculinities, young people and consumption, and adult reconceptualisations of ‘non-normative’ childhoods’ across northern Europe. Her latest publications is Phoenix, A. A., & Peltola, M. (2018), Gendered perspectives and intersectionality: 11-14-year-old boys and masculinities at school, Kasvatus.

]]>“We must defend the right [of the Palestinians] to a self-determined education”https://fobzu.org/blog/2018/11/01/palestinian-universities-under-occupation-and-academic-freedom/
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:08:24 +0000https://fobzu.org/?p=31898On 17th October Fobzu held the third event in the Education, Occupation & Liberation programme on the topic of ‘Palestinian universities under occupation and academic freedom’. The panel discussion held at the Institute of Education drew a large audience of academics, students and members of the public. This timely event was held a week […]

]]>On 17th October Fobzu held the third event in the Education, Occupation & Liberation programme on the topic of ‘Palestinian universities under occupation and academic freedom’. The panel discussion held at the Institute of Education drew a large audience of academics, students and members of the public.

This timely event was held a week after Fobzu issued a joint letter with UK education unions calling on the Foreign Office to stand up for Palestinian higher education. The letter, signed by leaders of UCU, NEU, NASUWT, EIS and UNISON, condemned the increase in repressive actions taken by Israel restricting access to education in the oPt and urged the UK government to take action to uphold the Palestinian right to education and academic freedom.

Dr Mezna Qato, an historian of Palestinian education at King’s College, Cambridge and Fobzu trustee, opened the discussion by detailing historical restrictive policies towards Palestinian education that have been adopted by colonial powers, Arab states and international regimes over the past century. Under the British Mandate education became a tool of colonial rule while at the same time, schools and colleges were targeted with raids, closures and demolitions, practices that continue under Israeli occupation today.

Professor Roger Heacock had taught at Birzeit University for 35 years before occupation authorities failed to renew his visa earlier this year, when he became one of 15 foreign passport-holding faculty facing visa refusals or severe delays to renewal. Professor Heacock placed these recent measures in the wider context of increasing restrictions imposed by Israel on access to the oPt and the longer-term policy adopted by Israel to fragment occupied Palestine, undermining the national character of Palestinian institutions and isolating them internationally. Professor Heacock argued these measures were a response to the resurgence of popular mobilisation undertaken by Palestinians, in particular, the Great March of Return in Gaza. Combined with the actions taken by the Trump administration in the US aimed at dismantling UNRWA and undermining the international legal framework governing Palestine, the Palestinians were facing a historic assault on their rights.

Dr Adam Hanieh, Reader in Development Studies at SOAS, argued that one of the reasons universities in the oPt were targeted by the occupation authorities was the important civic role they play in Palestinian society. Since their emergence in the late 1970s, Palestinian universities had been active sites of political engagement for students and staff. Institutions such as Birzeit University had provided a critical arena for civic participation, with Palestinian students and academics gathering from across the West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel. The policies of geographic fragmentation and closure that had accelerated in the last two decades, however, were increasingly transforming Palestinian universities into local institutions, undermining their national reach. This is why, Dr Hanieh concluded, solidarity between UK students and academics with their Palestinian colleagues is more urgent now than ever.

A video recording of this event is available here: https://youtu.be/pzPURN6ZNSI

]]>Fobzu joins with education unions in calling on the UK government to stand up for Palestinian universitieshttps://fobzu.org/blog/2018/10/15/fobzu-and-education-unions-write-to-uk-government-over-visa-restrictions-at-palestinian-universities/
https://fobzu.org/blog/2018/10/15/fobzu-and-education-unions-write-to-uk-government-over-visa-restrictions-at-palestinian-universities/#respondMon, 15 Oct 2018 15:43:12 +0000https://fobzu.org/?p=31873On Monday 15th October, Fobzu and representatives of the major education unions – including UCU, NEU, NASUWT, EIS and UNISON – wrote to Minister of State for the Middle East, The Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP to call on the UK government to stand up for Palestinian students and educators. Responding to the growing restrictions […]

]]>On Monday 15th October, Fobzu and representatives of the major education unions – including UCU, NEU, NASUWT, EIS and UNISON – wrote to Minister of State for the Middle East, TheRt Hon Alistair Burt MP to call on the UK government to stand up for Palestinian students and educators. Responding to the growing restrictions on foreign national faculty working at universities in the occupied West Bank, we raised our collective concern about the declining access to the occupied Palestinian territory and the impact this is having on Palestinian education.

Our letter draws attention to the fact that this practice is not isolated but one of a number of harmful policies adopted by Israel over more than five decades of military occupation that attack Palestinian education and culture, in breach of Palestinian rights enshrined in international law. We call upon the UK government to play an active role in upholding its international obligations and the Palestinian right to education, and respond to calls by Palestinian universities to:

1. Support international efforts to hold Israel accountable for its violations and ensure its adherence to international law;

2. Stand up for Palestinian higher education and demand an end to Israel’s arbitrary and harmful practice of restricting and denying access of Palestinian universities to international staff contributing to Palestinian educational life;

3. Defend Palestinians’ right to education by taking action to ensure Israel fulfils its international obligations and adopts an entry and residence policy for foreign nationals in the oPt that is clear, documented and transparent.

The full text of the letter follows.

Dear Minister,

We write to you on behalf of staff working in the UK education sector and those who are dedicated to supporting Palestinian education, to express our deep concern with a worsening trend in Israeli policies which limit access to the occupied Palestinian territory. As a result of these policies there has been a marked increase in visa denials and restrictions for foreign passport holders teaching at Palestinian universities. These measures directly undermine Palestinian academic freedom and access to education. We urge you to take steps to fulfil the UK’s international commitments and obligations, and to uphold the rights of Palestinian students and university staff.

While the obstruction of access to education has been a systematic policy of the occupation for decades, we have been alarmed to learn from our Palestinian colleagues of the recent deterioration of the state of academic freedom they are experiencing. Over the last two years especially, Palestinian students and lecturers have suffered from an increasingly onerous and arbitrary visa regime for foreign nationals teaching at Palestinian universities. Research by the Palestinian National Authority’s Ministry of Education has shown that in this period, over half of foreign national academics in the occupied Palestinian territory have faced visa denials or restrictions on entry or residency.

Birzeit University has been particularly hard-hit with 15 foreign passport-holding faculty members having had requests for visa renewals refused or significantly delayed. In June, seven faculty members had their visa renewals rejected. Many of these academics are Palestinian but denied residency rights, many have taught in the oPt for years and hold senior positions at the university. These actions by Israel not only disrupt the daily functioning of Palestinian universities but in the long term serve to isolate Palestinian higher education internationally.

These measures are not exceptional but instead contribute to a sustained and escalating attack on Palestinian institutions of culture and learning by a military occupation that has entered its sixth decade. As you are aware, today, access to Palestinian universities is limited or denied altogether by the restrictions on movement within the oPt including the illegal closure of Gaza imposed by Israel. Israel’s military continue to damage and destroy schools and centers of learning – most recently the Said al-Mishal Centre in Gaza, while students and teachers are harassed and detained daily. The existential crisis now confronting UNRWA as a result of US’s decision to withdraw its funding jeopardises the education of over half a million children, and the rights and dignity of over 5 million Palestinian refugees.

Although it is clear that the Palestinian people will be unable to fully exercise their rights, including their right to education, while they remain under occupation and in exile from their homeland, there are international laws and norms governing the oPt of which Israel is in breach. The right to education for Palestinians and the protection of their civil institutions is enshrined in international human rights and international humanitarian law. As an occupying power, Israel is obliged to maintain the normal functioning of Palestinian civil institutions, including those of higher learning. The UK, as a third-party state, has a duty to ensure Israel’s adherence to its international obligations and hold it accountable for its breaches of international law. Moreover, the government has made a public commitment to UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,’ and has officially endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration.

As a new academic year begins in Palestine, we therefore request that the government respond to the demands of Palestinian students and teachers and:

1. Support international efforts to hold Israel accountable for its violations and ensure its adherence to international law;

2. Stand up for Palestinian higher education and demand an end to Israel’s arbitrary and harmful practice of restricting and denying access of Palestinian universities to international staff contributing to Palestinian educational life;

3. Defend Palestinians’ right to education by taking action to ensure Israel fulfils its international obligations and adopts an entry and residence policy for foreign nationals in the oPt that is clear, documented and transparent.

In addition to the responsibilities it carries as a member of the international community and signatory to international laws governing occupations, the UK was also the Mandatory Power when the dispossession of the Palestinian people began. We are therefore acutely aware of the additional colonial debt that our country carries, which can only be repaid by beginning to address the injustices that a new generation of Palestinians is now experiencing.

EDUCATION, OCCUPATION & LIBERATION

Palestinian Universities Under Occupation & Academic Freedom

Professor Roger Heacock, Birzeit University

Dr Mezna Qato, King’s College, Cambridge

Dr Adam Hanieh, SOAS

When: 6.30pm, Wednesday 17th October

Where: Room 782 (tbc), Institute of Education (UCL)

To attend this event please RSVP by signing up on the Eventbrite page here.

Emerging in the context of colonial rule, military occupation and enforced exile, Palestinian universities have faced a range of obstacles to teaching and learning that has undermined their academic freedom. At the same time, university campuses have been active sites of civic engagement, national unity and popular resistance.

Today, Palestinian students and educators confront a regime of movement restrictions, military attacks incursions and attacks, and measures that serve to isolate and fragment Palestinian higher education. The recent wave of visa denials to foreign national faculty teaching at Palestinian universities is the latest step taken by the occupation to deny Palestinian academic freedom.

This panel discussion will address the current challenges facing Palestinian higher education, efforts to overcome them and what students and staff in the UK can do to provide solidarity and support to Palestinian colleagues.

—

Professor Roger Heacock taught European history at Birzeit University for over 35 years until the renewal of his visa was refused this summer. At Birzeit, he is a member of the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies and co-coordinates the Birzeit University Digital Palestinian Archive.

Dr Mezna Qato is Junior Research Fellow at Kings College, Cambridge. She is writing a book on the history of education for Palestinians and is a trustee of Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu).

Dr Adam Hanieh is a Reader in Development Studies, at SOAS, University of London, who lived and worked in Ramallah, Palestine between 1997 and 2003. His most recent book is Money, Markets and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2018).